The invention relates to inflatable motor vehicle airbags. More particularly, the invention relates to airbags that protect a vehicle passenger from side impact collisions.
Side impact airbags are utilized in motor vehicles for protecting occupants from injury due to impact with an interior side of a vehicle. A side impact airbag may be designed for use with a linear inflator, which is known in the art and differs from conventional inflators primarily in that inflation gas is discharged substantially uniformly along a length of the inflator. Conventional inflators, in contrast, typically include a single gas nozzle outlet, and are used in conjunction with a distribution pipe extending along an airbag. Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated an inflatable airbag 10 in accordance with a known design. Airbag 10 includes a plurality of seams 20 connecting adjacent panels or sides of an airbag body 12. Arrows “A” indicate approximate directions of the flow of inflation gas inside the airbag body 12, delivered via a linear inflator (not shown) extending along a top edge 15 of airbag body 12. Seams 20 restrict the predominant flow of gas to certain paths. Linear inflators, because they distribute gas uniformly along their length, can create localized overpressurization and seam failure when used with typical airbags incorporating seam patterns such as those shown in FIG. 1.